Acarsdeco2 May 2026

This article explains what acarsdeco2 is, how it differs from other decoders, and how to set it up to turn your $20 RTL-SDR dongle into a real-time aircraft messaging receiver. acarsdeco2 is a lightweight, multi-channel ACARS decoder written in C. It is specifically designed to work with RTL-SDR devices (using the rtl-sdr library) and can decode multiple ACARS frequencies simultaneously within the bandwidth of your SDR.

If you’ve ever wanted to listen in on the digital conversations between airliners and ground stations, you’ve likely encountered the term ACARS . While many enthusiasts start with the well-known dumpvdl2 or acarsdec , a powerful and efficient alternative exists: acarsdeco2 . acarsdeco2

docker run --rm -it --device /dev/bus/usb --pull always ghcr.io/sdr-enthusiasts/docker-acarsdec:acarsdeco2 Here’s a minimal command to start decoding: This article explains what acarsdeco2 is, how it

acarsdeco2 --device 0 --freq-list 131.125e6,131.475e6,131.550e6,131.725e6,131.850e6 To feed decoded messages into a web dashboard or logging system: If you’ve ever wanted to listen in on

acarsdeco2 --device 0 --freq 131.550e6 This decodes only one frequency. To take advantage of multi-channel decoding:

acarsdeco2 --device 0 --freq-list 131.550e6 --json --http-port 8080 Then point a browser to http://localhost:8080/data for live JSON. A typical decoded message looks like this: